MANIAC: NYC's Grindhouse King

 

Would you just LOOK at that poster art?!  If ever there was a Horror movie poster that accurately described to the viewer exactly what they were in for, it's this one!  Genre favorites Joe Spinell and William Lustig came together to leave a very unique (and very bloody) mark on Horror movies with this 1980 shocker.

I'd first heard about Maniac sometime in the early to mid 90s as I was diving head long into Dawn of the Dead and everything Tom Savini!  I clearly recall a review of Elite's special edition laserdisc in an issue of Fangoria and found myself wondering aloud "how did I miss this one?!"  I quickly found a copy of Anchor Bay's VHS port of that special edition (you know the release...the one with the white box) and immediately fell in love with the lurid tale of Frank Zito:  super for a low-rent apartment building by day and Night Stalker by, er, night. 

If you know Joe Spinell's story, you know how close he famously was with Sylvester Stallone -- hence his appearence in the first two Rocky films.  Bill Lustig has often stated that Maniac was "Spinell's Rocky" in that it was the actor's pet project, much in the same way of his famous friend.  Spinell researched newspaper articles and clippings about real-life killers to come up with a composite that would eventually be the script for this film. 

The story follows Frank Zito as he deals with some severe mother issues and, much like the shark in Jaws, hunts and kills innocent women on the streets of New York City, circa 1979/1980. On the surface, this could have been just another exploitative piece of garbage; a guy hacking up women just because.  But no...because of the heart that Spinell and Lustig poured into this one while shooting it guerilla-style . . . it's got something more to it. 

I imagine this is probably what it looked like while Spinell was writing!

 One of my favorite elements to Maniac is its portrayal of New York's seedier side in its locations; Old New York, if you will . . .  a place that I can never visit thanks to "flippin' Giuliani".  Even though it wasn't exactly the safest place to be, I'd love to spend just a few hours on 42nd Street sometime in the early 80s, checking out all the Grindhouse movie theaters (the Horror ones of course). 

Forget going back to the future, give me Old New York any time!

 The other standout here is, of course, Tom Savini's incredible special effects work.  Here, Savini found himself the equivalent to a Michael Jordan Three-peat:  Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th, and Maniac!  The guy was simply on fire and quickly earning the many fan and press-appointed titles bestowed upon him throughout the 80s. 

Here, Savini sees George Romero's first draft for Day of the Dead!

One thing that has always made me sort of scratch my head about Maniac though is the budding romance that occurs during the picture's second half between Spinell's Frank ZIto and Caroline Munro's Anna D'Antoni.  A guy who could be Ron Jeremy's stunt double meets (and woos) a beautiful fashion photographer who was probably once a model herself.  Not only does the physical attraction seem odd, but the way that Frank sleezes his way into Anna's life . . . the creepo factor is definitely at an 11! 

Caroline Munro:  Maybe I should take him to the zoo?

Let's go back to that poster art shall we?

 

 

 THIS is how they used to make posters for Horror movies back in the day kiddos!  You won't find any of that "floating heads staring back at you" or "generic font for the title" BS on this classic poster!  No sir...this is straight-up and in your face about what this film is all about.  In fact, it's art like this that really makes me yearn for the old days of having actual art on a poster instead a Photoshopped collage combined with the other two tropes I mentioned. 

 

When it comes to Maniac, it's also worth mentioning the 2012 remake helmed by Franck Khalfoun (of High Tension fame) and starring Elijah Wood in the titular role.  While it transplants the action from seedy New York to the brighter lights and bigger city of Los Angeles, on paper, this combination may sound silly...but it actually works.  There are some really great nods to the original (including a great shot replicating the classic poster image) and the film's first-person POV style amps up the grizzly factor.  Surprisingly, it's a worthy successor to Lustig's original!

 

Even though the days of seeing (and making) films as brutal and filthy as the original Maniac may be long gone, we still have countless VHS, laserdisc, DVD, and bluray releases (and the odd midnight screening in your local theater if you're lucky! to pour over.  Not just a typical "slasher" film, this is one that gets up under your skin and leaves a stain that stays with you forever!

The Blind Dead: Some of the Coolest Zombies Ever

Seriously...would you LOOK at these dudes?

If you're into zombie movies, chances are that you've seen these guys before.  If not, you're about to read up on a cool little film series that you probably haven't heard of...

Between 1971 and 1975, Spanish director Amando de Ossorio wrote and directed four creepy little films featuring some of the most original zombies ever put on film.  Of course, I'm referring to the titular Blind Dead (or Knights Templar) featured in Tombs of the Blind Dead, Return of the Evil Dead (aka:  Return of the Blind Dead), The Ghost Galleon (aka: Horror of the Zombies), and Night of the Seagulls (aka:  Night of the Death Cult). 

In 1998, I first discovered the original film, Tombs and the first sequel, Return via Anchor Bay's long OOP double feature release.  The original film is presented in its native Spanish language with English subtitles, while the sequel is dubbed into English. While I haven't watched this disc in forever, I can't recall whether the films as presented are uncut.  The disc itself has had mixed reviews over the years, as it the image quality is a bit weak and the lack of extras -- though the inclusion of Return of the Evil Dead could be considered an extra right?) turned a lot of fans off.  However, at the time, this was the only way to see these films in the digital age!  If you're a completist, search out this disc.

This disc is worth searching for...

After falling in love with the Blind Dead, I next collected the other two sequels via VHS copies from conventions over the next several years, which were more than fine for me as far as I was concerned. 



Your basic "official" bootleg release.

Not too long after picking up those VHS copies, however, I came across one of those multi-movie sets called Horror Rises From The Grave.  This is your basic bootleg release of films perceived to be in public domain (or not...the companies usually don't care either way) and in poor presentations usually just VHS transfers.  Included in this set is Zombie Flesh Eaters -- which is NOT to be confused with Lucio Fulci's Zombie.  In this case, it's a VHS transfer of The Ghost Galleon/Horror of the Zombies.  Also included in this set are a letterboxed version of House By The Cemetery (reportedly lifted from one of Anchor Bay's original releases) and two other cheaply released pictures. 

Finally, in 2005, Blue Underground announced an incredible boxset that would include all four Blind Dead films in their original, uncut forms.  Extras included trailers, photo galleries, alternate footage, a book, and even a bonus disc focusing on Amando de Ossario!

THIS is how you do a box set!

Included in this awesome set -- inside a tiny, friggin' coffin no less! -- is the following:

• Tombs of the Blind Dead
• 97 minute Original Spanish version
• 82 minute US Theatrical Edit (dubbed)
• Return of the Evil Dead
• 91 minute Original Spanish version
• 87 minute US Theatrical Edit (dubbed)
• The Ghost Galleon
• Original 90 minute Spanish version
• Night of the Seagulls
• Original 88 minute Spanish version
• Amando de Ossorio:  Director (bonus disc)
• The Last Templar (2001 documentary)

When it was first released, this set was pretty expensive and I've seen it vary in price on the secondary market.  The films themselves were released individually around the same time, However, I recently saw that Blue Underground released another set of them together....

 

...not sure of the extras included, though I'm sure it's just the movie discs and nothing new.  This looks to be more affordable than the coffin, so if you're looking for them, give this set a try!

Now, with all that out of the way, let's get into each a film a bit, shall we?

Tombs of the Blind Dead introduces the Knights Templar who, in the 13th century, practiced some black magic and witchcraft...human sacrifice, etc.  They were condemned, executed and had crows peck the eyes out of their rotting corpses.  Flash-forward to modern day Portugal and a group of travelers stumble into the Templars' resting place -- a creepy and rotting old graveyard.  Naturally, this brings the Templars back from the dead to seek out their new victims.  The coolest and most original element is that they're obviously blind, so they hear their prey...even the faint sound of a pounding heartbeat will bring the Templars out!  Another standout feature in this film -- and in all of the films actually -- is that they ride their horses in slow-motion!  To be honest, when the slow-mo is combined with the echoed sounds of their horses' hooves, it's creepy as Hell!

Also worth noting is the look of the Templars themselves . . . rotting robes, hollowed out skeletal faces with cool facial hair, and creepy skeletal hands reaching out like the arms of a T-Rex!  Why hasn't a toy company like NECA released at least one action figure based on these guys yet?!

While not necessarily a direct sequl, Return of the Evil Dead focuses on a small village celebrating the 500th anniversary of the defeat of the Templars.  Of course, the celebration is cut short when a handful of Templars show up and completely massacre the village!  While this first sequel reuses quite a bit of footage from Tombs, it's still a great film and worthy sequel, adding in elements of Night of the Living Dead even!

In The Ghost Galleon, a boat full of models disappears in the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle -- actually the appearance of the titular Ghost Galleon, which happens to be carrying buried treasure as well as travel coffins for the Templars!  Back on the mainland, associates of the missing models form a search party and soon find themselves aboard the Ghost Galleon, where they inadvertantly wake up the Templars.  This sequel is probably the cheapest-looking of the series, displaying some painful special effects such as toy boats floating in a bath tub!  However, the Blind Dead themselves are in fine form here and do not disappoint!

Finally, in Night of the Seagulls, the Templars become local legends of sorts to a coastal fishing village.  Every seven years, they return for seven nights to re-enact their human sacrificial rituals.  In return for their safety, a small cult of Blind Dead worshippers kidnap nubile, young ladies to offer up as sacrifices -- which the Templars happily accept of course!

Even if you might be turned off by having to read subtitles, I cannot recommend these movies enough!  Yes, they might be a little slow in spots, but when they finally deliver the goods, they do so in spades! 

It's Just A Dream....a review of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Looking back at the early entries in the Nightmare series, one might argue that Wes Craven's original was comparable to, say, Metallica's Kill 'Em All record in that it was the rough, unpolished blueprint for an entire new genre. Although groundbreaking, it was still considered underground and independent -- certainly anything but mainstream. Those who were fans knew it by word of mouth and spread the gospel to their friends alike.

 

So, by this rationale, Nightmare 2 would be the equivalent to the Ride the Lightning record; a follow-up that was certainly up to the challenge of not only being in the same league as its predecessor, but also possessing the intent of trying to surpass it in some way. Obviously the first Nightmare sequel had its fans and naysayers alike for various reasons (believe it or not, there are folks who abandonded Metallica after the first record), however it still brought the series that much closer to the mainstream and, in doing so, set events in motion for Freddy Krueger to become a household name.

This notion, of course, leads to the inevitable comparison of Nightmare 3 to the Master of Puppets record; easily at the top of the indie scene, breaking sales records, growing in popularity, and bringing the mainstream closer to the series and Freddy as a whole . . . all from just outside the fences of not quite being a household name. 

Released in 1987, Nightmare 3 begins my favorite story arc in the entire series -- the last of the Elm Street children -- while also continuing the continuity of the original film by bringing back Nancy Thompson and her father Donald.  Speaking of continuity, this is one of the aspects that I've always felt set the Nightmare series apart from its biggest contemporary, Friday the 13th.  Throughout the entire Dream Trilogy started by Nightmare 3, close attention to detail is paid to the characters who come in and out of each film.  There's also, of course, the haunted version of 1428 Elm Street that makes its first appearance in this sequel, continuing through the remainder of the series (of course, with little continuity on the interiors of the house, but that's another matter in and of itself).

Also worth noting this time around is the return of series creator Wes Craven, receiving story and screen-writing credit along with Frank Darabont and director Chuck Russell, among others.

This time around, the last of the Elm Street children have been institutionalized after their parents deem their attempts to stay awake as some sort of suicidal group psychosis.  Naturally, the adults in the film don't believe the kids and aren't phased in the least that they were all dreaming of the same boogeyman long before they met eachother. 

Freddy returns to the screen, once again, chasing the film's heroine Kristen Parker (played by Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette in her first role) without skipping a beat from the mixed reviews of Nightmare 2 two years earlier.  After a particularly rough nightmare, Kristen is admitted to the institution where the rest of our story takes place.  Once there, of course, she's introduced to the rest of the Elm Street children and, with the help of Freddy's greatest foe Nancy Thompson (with Heather Langenkamp returning once again to give Freddy the ol' one-two), they all become the titular Dream Warriors.

Speaking of the kids, there's short-fused Kincaid (Ken Sagoes), mute Joey (Rodney Eastman), aspiring TV starlet Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow), puppet maker Phillip (Bradley Gregg), wizard in training Will Stanton (Ira Heiden), and of course, everyone's favorite badgirl, Taryn White (Jennifer Rubin).  Also along for the ride as skeptical adults are Craig Wasson, Priscilla Pointer, and a young Laurence Fishburne.

As Freddy invades the dreams of and stalks the Dream Warriors, this is where the series really came into itself and became known for its outlandish special effects sequences!  Everything from a phalic-looking giant Freddy snake to a TV that kills, and even a tribute to Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation is thrown at the viewer!

In the special effects department, you've got Kevin Yager returning for the make-up duties (creating what is pretty much the definitive look for Freddy) and pioneers like Mark Shostrom, Greg Cannom, and Screaming Mad George contributing to some of the outlandish special effects sequences.  Some of the standout sequences include the aforementioned Freddy Snake and killer TV set, along with a character having his veins and ligaments ripped out as Freddy controls him like a marionette!

Going back to, what I consider the definitive Freddy look, this was actually the very first time I'd seen Freddy, so this one is special.  However, there's also a plethora of promotional photos for Nightmare 3 that were used on merchandise, posters, packaging, everything from the time of the film's release right up to the present day.  My favorite image, of course, is the promo poster that I've talked about on here before...it's just simple, effective, and so damn cool! 

Most Nightmare fans consider this to be the best of the sequels and I can't say that I disagree!  It's got some of the most memorable sequences and one-liners (that are still effective, cruel, and not completely corny like some of the later sequels), a great cast of likable characters to root for, and it perfectly sets up the next film in its final reel.  Along with the new characters to root for, Nightmare 3 also sees the return of Nancy and her father from the original film; when it comes to Horror heroines, Heather Langenkamp is easily right at home next to Halloween's Jamie Lee Curtis or Friday the 13th's Adrienne King.

All in all, Nightmare 3 is a roller coaster ride of a sequel . . . it brings back familiar characters, expands on a story that we think we all know (adding the depth of the Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs), and leaves the door open for yet another sequel!

 

 

The first time I saw Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE and didn't quite know it

Back in the mid-90s, I was cutting my teeth as a young Horror fan.  I was getting more and more access to films I'd heard or read about in the pages of Fangoria or from word of mouth.  Again, this was all pre-internet, so I could only learn about this films by word of mouth and what I'd find at the local video store . . . I hadn't even gone to my first Horror convention yet!

One of those films was Lucio Fulci's classic Zombie (or Zombie Flesh Eaters, Zombi 2, etc depending on what side of the pond you're from).  I'd heard stories about it being an "unofficial sequel" or blatant ripoff of Dawn of the Dead and I'd even seen the VHS big box release from Wizard Video during my almost weekly treks to the video store. 

But I'd never actually seen it.

Flash forward to 8/18/95, my 13th birthday.  My Gram -- who was the greatest grandmother a kid could ever have asked for btw -- took me on a trip to the Palmer Mall in Easton, PA.  You see, Palmer Mall had a great Suncoast Video store that I loved browsing and this birthday trip was no different, as Gram was letting me pick out some presents.

Now, any time I walk into a record/video/toy store, my eyes are HUGE, right Jack?  For some reason, I immediately went for the THX widescreen boxset of the Star Wars trilogy.  Dubbed as my "last chance to own the original Star Wars trilogy on video" my interest was peeked . . . how could I resist?  I mean, it's not like George Lucas was going to screw with the movies we all know and love . . . right??

With a sizeable VHS boxset (which I still have mind you) under my arm, I had some spar birthday money left over . . . what to get, what to get . . . the constant question hanging over a young Horror fan's head in a video store.  It must have been about $10 that I had leftover because I was searching through the Horror VHS and I distinctly remember the one I picked being $9.99. 

"What about Lucio Fulci's Zombie?!"

Sure, why not!  I immediately went to the end of the Horror section, looking under "Z" for, well, ya know . . .

"Hmmm . . . I don't see Zombie, but I see Zombie 2 and Zombie 4:  A Virgin Among The Living Dead"

Not exactly what I was looking for, though seeing the word "virgin" in one of the titles was waving a huge flag to this particular pubescent young gentlemen!  I looked at the cover of Zombie 2 which was billed as "The Lucio Fulci Classic!"

Seems legit.

"What now?" I thought. "Fulci made the first sequel, too?"

I scanned over the back of the box which gave a brief plot summary . . .

Shredded corpses are discovered on a boat adrift in New York harbor.  A note tells of a strange plague on the remote island of Matool.

 

A pretty woman journeys there to see that her father is all right.  He's NOT all right!  The island is infested with RAVENOUS ZOMBIES -- Zombies with a BIG TASTE for flesh!  They're bad to the bone!

 

Lucio Fulci's graphic masterpiece!

Okay . . . at this point, I was REALLY confused.  But, the label in the bottom, right of the box stating "WARNING: Viewer discretion advised.  This film contains violence & nudity" ultimately sold me on it!  I had to have it!

"Hell," I thought to myself, "the zombie dude with the worms in his eye is on the cover of this, so it's gotta be related in some way!"

Later that afternoon, we got back to Gram's house and I was itching to check out this Zombie 2 business . . . friggin' Star Wars could wait!  I popped that VHS into the VCR as fast as I could and I clearly remember the warm, summer air that day as the tropical setting of the movie seemed to resonate with me and, honestly, kinda freak me out about watching it.

The movie started with voodoo drums and a shadowy English fellow blasting a sheet-wrapped zombie in the face -- right in the goddamn face -- with a revolver before announcing "The boat can leave now.  Tell the crew."  Instant gore!  I loved it! 

"Hmmm...the title says Zombie 2, but it looks like it's been superimposed over something else . . ."

Man, the print on this particular version of the movie is in terrible shape!  Shitty full-screen cropping and a filthy picture made it feel like I was watching something I wasn't supposed to be watching.  All these years later though, it's still fun to give this particular version a view simply for the nostalgic feelings it brings back.  One of my favorite memories of this version was sitting in my friend's kitchen on a Sunday afternoon, post-sleepover Saturday, watching the tape on a tiny TV/VCR combo simply because his little brother wanted to see the nudity! 

Of course, not long after watching the film, I realized that it was your basic bootleg release of what is commonly known as Zombie, which I would see a few years later when Anchor Bay released their Widescreen Presentation collector's edition in 1998.  Seeing Fulci's masterpiece in its correct aspect ratio made it a lot more enjoyable, as it appeared to have been made by someone with talent (which the fullscreen transfer clearly doesn't). 

Ever since that fateful day, almost 20 years ago, Zombie has become a definite favorite.  It opened up the world of the late, great Lucio Fulci to my young eyes.  In fact, at my second ever Horror convention, a Weekend of Horrors as a matter of fact, I managed to pick up an original Zombie one sheet, which hung proudly displayed in various locations of my old bedroom before taking its rightful place in Crypt's bathroom.

I do a lot of my thinking here.

Dawn of the Dead: My Soundtrack Holy Grail (Goblin edition)

At the risk of letting this blog become dedicated to All Things George A. Romero (hey, besides this entry here, I've got a couple of other cool ideas I'm digging up from the Crypt) . . . I wanted to share, with you, the story of my hunt for the once elusive Dawn of the Dead soundtrack.

You see, in the days before the internet, there was a time a where people actually went out and purchased CDs, records, or cassettes of soundtracks they were looking for.  The main spark for this entry here at Constriction Pictures stems from an old friend asking me to burn a copy of the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack for them; matter of fact, I think I may have, but I don't remember.  The point is though, right now, you can google the soundtrack and instantly download it from pretty much any message board or blog similar to this one.  For me, the thrill of the hunt, and ultimately the glory of actually finding it in the flesh, has always been more rewarding than a quick and easy download. 



Just look at this cover art.  Stark, simple, and amazing.

The year was 1993 or early 1994 at the latest.  A random, after school hang session with some of my buddies resulted in talk of Dawn of the Dead. Can’t really say how or why it crept into our conversation, but the end product saw us renting the film and me rediscovering something that I had first seen at the impressionable age of 5.

Of course, when Mom came home, I got busted for having people over when no one was home and I had to deal with Dad later. But, needless to say, the damage was done and on that fateful evening, I was set on a path that I'd follow for the rest of my life.

I was now a fan of Dawn of the Dead.

Now, what had a very unique effect on me was the score that the film contained. It was haunting and eerie, yet the coolest music I had heard in a long time. The fact that it was instrumental appealed to me even way back then; in fact, I still stand by the fact that Horror movies need a good, strong instrumental score! At that point in time, I was going by what the film's credits stated "Music by The Goblins with Dario Argento" . . . um, excuse me, who and who?  I could barely pronounce Argento's name at this point, but my interest was peaked, to say the least!

I'm not sure where I first discovered that there was actually a soundtrack album available, but so began an almost ritualistic journey to the mall to search every single soundtrack section in the hopes that I'd find the CD of my dreams. In fact, back in those days, on the East coast we had a mall music store known as The Wall (which is now commonly known as F. Y. E.); one of the cool things that The Wall was known for was their lifetime music guarantee . . . whenever you purchased a cassette or CD at one of their stores, you were given a square, blue sticker that you could place on the case of your recently-purchased music. Should anything happen to your item -- be it a scratch or your car's cassette deck got a little hungry -- The Wall would replace it for you. For free. For life. Or until they got bought out.


But, I digress . . . The Wall also had a special order program where you could go to a little kiosk in their stores and look up pretty much anything. If you found it, you could print out a little receipt-like piece of paper that was your special order form. As luck would have it, the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack by Goblin was listed in their database! Score!

So, there I was, barely 13yrs old printing out a special order ticket for the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack and walking it up to the counter. I was told to come back in a week or so. Was it REALLY this easy?? Nah...no way it was.

Of course it wasn't.

What was an incredibly foreign concept to me at the time was that the soundtrack was out of print. WHAT?? Not one single employee of The Wall ever told me it was out of print; all they ever told me was that it was on back order. Dammit. Seriously, I can't tell you just how many different malls I'd gone to printing out special order forms at The Wall for this record . . . and always coming up empty.
Okay, damn you . . . so this was to be a foot chase. No problem. Like The Wall, I would eventually hit every mall or independent record store in the remote area (courtesy of my Mom and her mini-van). If it wasn't a store, then it was a flea market where I'd search through dusty old milk crates of records I cared nothing about, but still, I always came up empty.

What's a kid to do when he REALLY wants to listen to the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack in the car or in his headphones when he's walking to school? Obviously, he sits in front of the TV with a tape recorder and records the audio of the movie . . . only momentarily lashing out at people who might unknowingly call the house, thus interrupting the afternoon's recordings. Seriously folks, if you thought the mullet geek with the dirtstache in Trekkies was horrible to his friend when their phone call disrupted his precious interview time . . . you didn't know me as a kid!

So, the quality was incredibly poor and there may have been the occasional phone ring or parental interruption, but it was something...

Some time later, Mom and Dad took me to my first Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors convention in 1995 -- where, again, I was unable to locate the Dawn soundtrack, though I did see a vinyl copy of the soundtrack for Day of the Dead. But it was what I discovered after that convention that made an impact . . . shortly after that show, while thumbing through a recent issue of Fango, I stumbled across a personal ad that read "Dawn of the Dead garage kit" . . .

"What the hell is that?", I thought to myself.

Anyway, I sent away for a mail order catalog from the address, which was listed in Michigan.

A few weeks later, I received what basically amounted to a Horror collector's zine in the form of a photocopied catalog, detailing various -- and quite costly -- items for sale. The company was called Classic Horrorz and it was run by a guy named Ron Causey and his buddy Terry Prince. As I thumbed through the catalog, feverishly scanning for anything Dawn of the Dead-related, I quickly came across a CD titled "Zombi/Tenenbre", a split collection of selected tracks Goblin had recorded for both Dawn of the Dead and Tenebre (a film I hadn't seen at that point).

The price was a whopping $75 . . . hey, that’s a lot of money to a 13yr old who has no income outside of being a good kid to his folks! This, of course, ended up being the first version of the Dawn soundtrack that would wind up in my collection.

I don't know many times I traced that 'bald head' image!

Released by Cinevox Records in 1990, the split release compiles tracks that Goblin recorded for Dawn (aka: Zombi) as well as Tenebre.

The tracklist is, as follows:

Dawn:

1.) L’Alba Dei Morti Viventi

2.) Zombi

3.) Safari

4.) Zaratozom

5.) La Caccia

6.) Tirassegno

Tenebre:

7.) Tenebre

8.) Gemini

9.) Lesbo

10.) Flashing

11.) Waiting Death

It’s interesting to note that, had I not also ordered a dubbed copy of the Dario Argento cut of Dawn of the Dead shortly before I ordered this CD, I would have only known three of the Dawn tracks! Still, I finally had some of the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack in my possession!!

Being that the titles were in Italian, I was desperate to know what they meant . . . so, I headed over to my local, favorite pizza place and asked my good friend and owner, Tony, if he could translate, which he happily did!

April 1997 saw me attend my second Chiller Theatre convention in East Rutherford, NJ. There, I picked up yet another split release of the Dawn soundtrack! This version featured all ten tracks of the Dawn soundtrack – with the inclusion of “The Gonk” (here labeled as “Mall Muzak”) as well as Goblin’s complete score for the Australian shocker Patrick.

A decent bootleg featuring the entire Goblin score

There's been some speculation about this release and whether it's some sort of promo or just a bootleg . . .if the horrid print quality of the cover art and the hissy quality of the audio weren't dead giveaways, it's definitely the latter.

Sometime in 1998, as Dawn of the Dead was celebrating its 20th anniversary, Cinevox released a really cool special edition of the soundtrack on CD.  I picked this one up at a Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors convention for $15 or $20; this particular release includes the original 10 tracks, as well as 6 additional -- and highly sought-after -- unreleased tracks.  There's also a throwaway bonus track entitled "Zombi (The Living Dead's Voices)" which sounds like someone messing around with a guitar effects pedal.

This is pretty much the definitive edition of the soundtrack!

Simply put, this release rocks!  To FINALLY have the complete Goblin score in collection was a dream come true.  Of course, there was also the search for the De Wolfe Library cues that were pain-stakingly assembled by Romero during the film's post-production...but that would be a separate quest in and of itself.

Sometime in 2000 or 2001, I managed to win an original Varese Sarabande vinyl LP off of eBay.  I've gotta say, on my iPod, a rip of this particular vinyl version gets the most airplay without a doubt.  Also around this time, I picked up a vinyl copy of the original Italian release from Cinevox as well.

In 2004, I picked up yet another vinyl re-issue, this time from Dagored, with an interesting (and creepy) cover.  Nothing too special about this release, as it's merely the a repressing of the original version, though this time on 180gram vinyl.  Still, a cool addition to the collection.

Well, I think that about does it for my Dawn of the Dead soundtrack collection in terms of the Goblin score.  I don't have too much in the way of the De Wolfe tracks outside of the 2004 Trunk Records collection of "unreleased" library cues.  Other than that, I've got mp3 versions of fan-made "Ultimate Edition" collections. 

Thanks for checking out another entry here . . . stay tuned for some more A Nightmare On Elm Street stuff coming up!

It's Just A Dream....a review of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is an odd ball film. Much like our anti-hero Krueger, it’s the bastard son of the entire franchise, quickly dismissed and ignored for everything that is wrong with it (of which, there is a lot). But what about what it gets right?

Let’s get something out of the way right now: yes, there’s an undertone to the film’s story about homosexuality and dealing with one’s inner struggles; the scene of Freddy fully coming out of Jesse’s body being a not too subtle punch right in the nose. At the same time though, Nightmare 2 wants to be just like all the other popular Horror releases at the time and have a higher than normal body count, showing the one true instance of a Nightmare film trying to edge its way into Slasher territory.

Writer David Chaskin openly admits that he intentionally added the gay undertones into the story focusing on new kid young Jesse Walsh and his struggles to fit in at school after having just moved into Springwood’s most famous haunted house. By basically flipping the script and swapping the traditional “final girl” character for a “final boy”, Nightmare 2 challenges its audience on many levels, not willing to just be your average, run of the mill pseudo-Slasher. The fact that the name “Jesse” is sexually ambiguous lends more credence to the notion of swapping sexes of all the main characters. 

Chaskin’s gamble on the story elements of Nightmare 2 and director Jack Sholder’s passé handling of the material may have been intended to do something a little bit different, ultimately the audience didn’t really care. As a result, Nightmare 2 has fallen into the same company of misunderstood sequels like Halloween III, in search of vindication from fans. 

But, what does the film do right that most fans tend to miss? For starters, there’s Robert Englund’s performance as Freddy. As far as I’m concerned, this is the film that shows the true birth of the Freddy we all know and love. Many of the mannerisms that have become associated with the character – the maniacal laugh and the pose immediately come to mind – are evident in this film. It’s worth noting that New Line execs initially started filming without Englund, feeling that any stunt player could portray Krueger and the audience would be none the wiser. This, of course, is the first mistake the film makes, with it being painfully obvious during the shower murder of Coach Schneider, as the stunt man in a Freddy mask hopelessly waddles out from the steam with all the presence of a white piece of paper.

This is the film where Englund completely takes ownership of the character! 

Later on, there’s the pool party scene which has divided Nightmare purists to this day since it breaks all the rules established in the first film. But it’s this scene where Englund really shines for me as he struts around the party after causing havoc and killing a few teens. Sure, this scene is a blatant attempt to add a body count, but I’m willing to forgive it for just how cool Freddy is in it! 

Make-up effects artist Kevin Yagher took over the design of the character this time, infusing a sort of witch-like appearance with a hooked nose and more pronounced chin. This is also the first time that Freddy’s sweater has the stripes down the sleeves and features the frayed wrists, neck and hemline; in short, the look everyone knows! Just look at his first appearance in the film on the bus in Jesse’s nightmare; as he’s slowly stalking back towards the frightened teens, the blades on his glove slicing up the bus seats . . . that’s pure, sadistic evil right there!  

As a kid, I remember not really being too into the fact that Freddy doesn’t even wear his glove for the 2nd half of the movie after emerging from Jesse’s body. Now, as an adult, I can’t really say I’m any less not into it, but I kind of understand it and appreciate it. Having the blades come right out of his fingers kind of a cool look I guess.  

In terms of his character, fans should be more appreciative of Freddy in Nightmare 2 specifically because it’s the last time we really see him before he became the jokester/game show host type in later sequels. He’s still a seriously evil dude and quite scary, but he’s got some solid one-liners as well; some standouts being “You’re all my children now”, “You’ve got the body…I’ve got the brain” and my personal favorite, “Help yourself, fucker!" 

Another interesting statistic that make Nightmare 2 stand out from the rest of the series is that it’s the last film where the kills are (somewhat) grounded in reality in that Freddy’s slicing and dicing and not getting cartoony with his methods of knocking kids off. During that pool party scene alone, there are some seriously vicious glove attacks on some of the kids!  

Plus, since I first discovered Nightmare 2 on VHS, I've got to mention the cool cover art here.  For me, that is the artwork for the film.  In fact, when I first saw the original poster art of Jesse holding Lisa in front of a mirror, with Freddy staring back, it just felt wrong compared to what I'd grown up with.  A few years later, I'd collect a poster for Nightmare 4 that featured the original photo used for this piece (albeit obviously reversed for the VHS cover).  Freddy just looks so cool on this cover and it certainily played a part in wrangling me in as a fan.  Next to the VHS artwork for Dawn of the Dead, I'd say this is a prime example my belief that artwork does matter; if it looks cool, is put together well, and completely catures your attention, then it's certainly a Win in my book!

The bottom line about Nightmare 2, though, for me is that it’s just another stop along the Elm Street series. Whether or not fans dig it is completely subjective. At the worst, it’s not as good as the original film, but at the very least, it’s not as bad or silly as some fans feel the later sequels are. If you’ve been overly dismissive of Nightmare 2 over the years, give it another shot . . . you might just be surprised.

It's Just A Dream . . . A Nightmare On Elm Street retrospective Part 2

Picking up where we last left off, I feel it's only appropriate to cover the next phase of my Freddy Fandom and dive headfirst into some of the crazy stuff that was going on and being marketed to impressionable young minds like mine!  At that particular point in time between 1987-1991 or so, Freddy was pretty much king as far as I was concerned and his popularity world-wide was definitely at its peak.

In the tri-state area of New Jersey/Pennsylvania/New York, we had a chain of department stores called Clover.  Now, I have many, many fond memories of going to several Clover stores as a kid, but none of them were as cool as the one outside of Easton, PA at the Palmer Park Mall.  For me, that store was the first and best one and, whether it was with my parents or, especially, my grandmother, I always seemed to get a cool toy whenever we were there . . . I'll never forget the day we walked into the store and saw this gem . . . 

The perfect Christmas gift for EVERY kid!

Just try and imagine the excitement that poured out of me when I saw this incredible Freddy doll -- that talked!! 

By now, I'm sure you're familiar with the legend of this doll; Matchbox, a toy company known primarily for toy cars that competed with Hot Wheels, for some strange reason decided to do a string of Freddy merchandise.  Naturally, marketing the bastard son of a hundred maniacs to kids (least of all, Freddy was a child murderer!) was bound to raise a few eyebrows and piss off some parents.  So, almost as soon as these dolls hit toy shelves, they were pulled due to mounting pressure from parental groups.  But, I got one . . . actually, I had two!

For whatever reason, the first one I got didn't quite work as it was supposed to.  The doll has the old pull-string mechanism on its back to make it talk and, no doubt due to too many tugs of the string, the mechanism ultimately wore out.  This resulted in a chipmunk-voiced talking Freddy which, given the phases he says, was somewhat hilarious, but ultimately frustrating for a 7yr old!  Being that my Mom is the coolest mom on the planet, she took me to various other Clover department stores in search of a replacement (exchange) and we ended up in one outside of Allentown, PA.  This is the doll I still have to this day!

Although he's got his chimpmunk voice from years of abuse, he's still a badass.

...how I've managed to hold on to this thing for all these years (with his hat!) and not have defaced him or destroyed him in any way aside from my minor dings and scrapes, is beyond me.  In tribute to the Freddy puppet in Nightmare 3, this doll hung on my bunk bed, with this little hollow plastic feet banging along the metal frame.  This doll was, of course, reissued and sold at Spencer's Gifts in 1994; though it was the same style of doll and same plastic molds for the head, hands, and feet, the talking mechanism was replaced with a push-button in his chest.  The paint scheme, sweater pattern, hat, and phrases were done differently as well.  Just found the one I'd had in its original box and gave it to my nieces (who were absolutely thrilled) since we have the original and my wife has one of the reissues.

Cool sidenote on the subject of Matchbox talking dolls...anyone remember the Pee-Wee Herman and Ernest talking dolls?  Both had similar builds to Freddy (ie: hollow plastic heads, hands, feet and they also feature the pull-string mechanism).  Along with the talking Freddy, I also had the Pee-Wee Herman doll; I vividly remember having him wear Freddy's hat and pretending that he was Indiana Jones!

Another cool bit of Matchbox merch that I actually stumbled upon at a flea market is the Maxx FX Freddy action figure.

Brilliant concept and killer box art here!

This first figure was designed to be a pilot for a new line of "dolls" aimed at boys based around movie make-up techniques.  Think of it as MEGO doing a toy based off of the SyFy Channel's Face-Off series!  In fact, the back of the box even advertises the rest of the line including, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and even the ALIEN!  Sadly, these were never produced as this Freddy figure fell victim to the same angry parental fury that limited the shelf life of the talking doll.  Hell, I don't even remember seeing this in stores, as the only one I ever saw as a kid was at a flea market, like I said, and the dude wanted $50 for it, which seemed like a ton of change to me back then.  Although he's the greatest dad on the planet to this day, Dad wouldn't get it for me that day, which I'm actually grateful for, because I doubt this would've survived the way the larger doll did.

However, shortly after I first moved to Chicago in 2008, I was checking out the local comic shop which always had a stockpile of great toys and action figures I'd grown up with.  One day, while visiting on my way home from work, I spotted the Maxx FX Freddy figure, mint in the box!  I couldn't believe it and figured it would be commanding the same insane prices I'd seen at Horror conventions over the years . . . no way, it was actually under $10!!  You bet your ass it came home with me that very day!

Just pretend that Robert Englund is actually in the make-up and that his hat actually fits.

The figure itself is more clunky and fragile than it looks.  Since all of the "special effects" have to fit over the 6" doll that comes with it, the pieces are oversized and make Freddy much taller than any similar figures.  In fact, it was actually really difficult to fit his feet into the KISS-like boots!  How little girls manage to put Barbie's feet into all those crazy shoes, I'll never know!  Since he is pretty fragile, these days, he's just been chilling on top of the entertainment unit in the Crypt, surrounded by other action figures. 

Up next in the toy department, enter LJN Toys.  Now, if you grew up in the 80s and early 90s, you may remember LJN for creating some of the worst (best?) and most frustrating Nintendo games for titles like Friday the 13th, Jaws, The Karate Kid, Back to the Future, and of course A Nightmare on Elm Street among many others.  LJN also produced toy lines for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, and their most famous lines Thundercats and WWF Wrestling Superstars (you know you cracked a few of your friends over the head with one of those hard, rubber Hulk Hogans).

In 1989, LJN took full advantage of their Freddy license, releasing a Freddy Squishem (similar to a stress reliever), a Freddy Fright Squirter (nothing more than a giant Freddy head that spit water), and a "Monster Squirt" squirt gun shaped like Freddy himself.  Not from LJN, but a yo-yo company called Spectra Star, there was even a Freddy yo-yo, depicting our hero with his glove on his left hand...even as a kid, I was weary of stuff that didn't get it right!  None of those toys sparked my interest though, as I went for their hard rubber statue-like doll . . .

Freddy says "how about that Ghost band, eh?

This guy has been in my collection ever since and sort of stood guard by my VCR and DVD player, hidden away behind a stack of unlabeled VHS tapes on a shelf.  Again, I'm amazed I still have it in the great condition that it's in.  Some years ago, I touched up his glove with some silver paint on his blades and to simulate solder scarring.  Although the pic might say otherwise, his boots are actually black. 

Another cool LJN item that crossed into another Horror franchise was Spitballs.  I remember finding these at a K-Mart when they came out; I instantly had to have both Freddy and Jason, though I'm not sure at this point if I'd been allowed to see any of the Friday the 13th movies.  Each was sold separately on a blister card, packaged with a "victim" spitball.


Jason has seen better days in terms of paint (note the red I added to his axe wound).  I've no idea where their victims went though.

The earliest Freddy-related toy I had is probably a cheap, dime store "stick-up" made by a no-name company in 1988.  I remember Mom buying one for me at a local Mini-Check 5 & 10 store and I was pretty stoked since this was the first official Freddy action figure I had.

Garfield and 'Baby On Board' window clingers be damned!

You can see by the package artwork and motif of the figure that it's based on Nightmare 3, though as a kid, I'd no idea why Freddy was wearing a trench coat on the card art.  My fondest memory of all this merch coming out at this time was the great promo photos on the packaging, all seeming to have come from a photo shoot for Nightmare 3.  Actually, I had at least two of these little Freddy guys . . . I've seen a variation that is barefoot and has a slightly different sweater, but I can't remember if I had that one or not.  Somewhere, I'm sure at least one of them survives in the boxes and storage bins my parents have been awesome enough to hold onto from my old bedroom and our attic when they moved recently!

Another cool piece that my parents saved for me is The Freddy Game, a 3D role-playing board game that I've had since its release in 1988 by Cardinal/Victory Games.  Set in "Freddy's house", in an almost Clue style, players would work their way through a 3D setting (complete with pop-up walls resembling a maze) trying to survive . . . the only catch was that one of the players really was Freddy!  To be honest, I don't think I ever actually played the game; instead, I just played around with the settings of the house, using it like a playset.  Regardless of that, I'm glad to have it in our collection of vintage board games!




In the upper left corner, you can see I tried to sell this at a yard sale for $1.00!

 

Something seems a little off about this guy...

One last piece of merch I'd like to cover is a sticker book that was released by Comic Images in either late 1987 or early 1988.   While I can't find an exact release year, it's definitely before Nightmare 4 in '88 as the book only covers the first three films.  You'd buy the book and then have to buy individual sticker packs that were about the size of trading cards -- though I can't remember if they came with bubble gum or not.  Surprisingly, the sticker book and stickers suddenly started popping up at Hot Topic stores back in 2005/2006 again! 

 

Kinda looks like those airbrushed t-shirts from the Jersey Shore, eh?

The most intriguing thing about this book, for me at least, is the cool, original artwork on the cover.  The book itself loosely covers the first three films in the series through a series of photos; I remember the photos on the spreads of each page being black and white and the stickers were in color.  There may have even been captions either in the boxes where the stickers would be placed or on the wax backers for the stickers. 

 

While I'm tempted to grab one of these books on eBay, I'm almost certain that my original book is still tucked away in a storage bin from my old bedroom.  Although I'm not 100% positive, I think I had most of the stickers in my book, though it was probably nowhere near complete.

 

Of course, this article is in no way near a comprehensive piece on all ANOES merch (I could do an entire blog just focusing on the merchandising angle of the series!).  In time, I might check out some of the more recent items that have come about -- it's worth noting McFarlane Toys' contribution with the original Movie Maniacs line, no? -- but I just wanted to focus solely on the stuff I grew up with.

 

Stay tuned for another edition of It's Just A Dream....